Dec. 28 snow in North Texas

Dallas Veterans Day Parade

Cruz & O'Rourke making final pitches before early voting starts Monday

Early voting starts on Monday and two senate candidates are spending the weekend making their final appeals to voters.

All eyes are on the statewide Texas race between U.S. Senator Ted Cruz and U.S. Rep. Beto O’Rourke. The most recent polls have the Republican incumbent with a 7-9 point lead.

“If you want a big government, gun grabbing liberal, well the Democrats are giving you one,” said Cruz during his Saturday rally in Houston.

“I see this neither about party nor about the president. I really see this as the people of Texas rising up to be counted at a moment of truth, transcending party affiliation,” said O’Rourke during his own rally Saturday.

O’Rourke spoke to voters at 3 DFW events about issues including immigration.

“We can build walls 2000 miles long, 30 feet high at a cost of $30 billion at a time of record low northbound apprehensions, knowing full well who's trying to come to this country, those who are fleeing the deadliest and most violent places in the hemisphere.”

Cruz touched on many of the same issues.

“Secure the borders, stop illegal immigration, and there's a right way to come into this country.”

Both candidates are rallying for votes in the final days leading up to the election.

“We know the extreme left is angry, they're filled with rage, and hatred for the president. That is dangerous,” said Cruz.

O’Rourke is making much of his focus unity beyond party.

“All that matters now is that we're together. We have a chance to define this country not by what we're afraid of, not by who we should be scared of, not by who we want to wall off or keep out, but this ambitious aspirational embrace of the future,” he said.

On Monday, President Trump will be in Houston to hold a rally for Senator Cruz.

O’Rourke will be continuing his campaign trail, holding rallies in Sugar Land on Sunday and San Marcos on Monday.